ADNOC To Announce Additional Partnerships For Gas Concession, Oil And Gas Blocks

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, ADNOC, will accelerate delivery of its new integrated gas strategy, as well as its plans to increase its oil production capacity to four million barrels per day by 2020,

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 19th Nov, 2018) The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, ADNOC, will accelerate delivery of its new integrated gas strategy, as well as its plans to increase its oil production capacity to four million barrels per day by 2020, with Dr. Sultan bin Ahmad Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO, saying there would be no let-up in the momentum gained during a record-breaking Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference, ADIPEC.

According to a press statement, Dr. Al Jaber signaled that ADNOC would be making additional strategic announcements in the coming weeks, including new partners for the Ghasha concession, which is ADNOC’s offshore ultra-sour gas mega project, consisting of Hail, Ghasha, Dalma and other offshore fields. Other upcoming announcements will centre on the Abu Dhabi government’s historic decision, earlier this year, to open six oil and gas blocks for competitive bidding. The blocks potentially hold multiple billion barrels of oil and multiple trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The first exploration and production licenses are expected to be awarded in the first quarter of 2019.

The announcements will build on Abu Dhabi’s Supreme Petroleum Council’s, SPC, approval of ADNOC’s plans to appraise and develop new gas resources that will enable the UAE to achieve gas self-sufficiency, with the aim of transitioning to a net gas exporter, sustaining LNG production to 2040. The SPC also approved an increase in ADNOC’s oil production capacity to four million barrels per day by the end of 2020 and five million barrels per day by 2030, as well as ADNOC’s new five-year business plan and capital investment growth of AED486 billion (US$132.33 billion) between 2019-2023.

Dr. Al Jaber said, "During ADIPEC, we made a number of important announcements, including strategic partnerships with Total and Eni, as a direct result of the recent SPC approval of our new five-year business plan and long-term growth strategy. These new partnerships, along with our forthcoming collaborations with Saudi Aramco and Mubadala, will make significant contributions to the delivery of our 2030 growth strategy.

"The announcements also represent progress on our efforts to tap the energy resources needed to enable global economic growth in the 4th Industrial Age – a mission we have defined as Oil and Gas 4.0. We are on the brink of a new era of opportunity for the oil and gas industry – an era in which digital innovation is delivering unprecedented levels of prosperity and driving demand for our products. ADNOC is gearing up to meet this demand and, through creative partnerships, seize the opportunities of Oil and Gas 4.0."

The Minister added, "Our ADIPEC announcements are only the beginning of our next phase of rapid growth. There will be no let-up in the momentum we have created during ADIPEC. More significant announcements are in the pipeline as we focus on maximizing value from all our resources and unlocking increased and commercially viable production from our oil and gas reserves."

In addition to the strategic partnership announcements with Total and Eni and MoU’s with Mubadala and Saudi Aramco, ADNOC also announced an AED5.

1 billion (US$1.4 billion) investment to upgrade and expand its Bu Hasa field, which will increase crude oil production capacity to 650,000 barrels per day. It also announced a framework agreement with the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd., ISPRL, to explore the possibility of storing ADNOC crude oil at ISPRL’s underground oil storage facility, at Padur, in Karnataka. The agreement builds on an earlier agreement to store 5.86 million barrels of ADNOC crude oil at another ISPRL underground facility, in Mangalore.

At this year’s ADIPEC, ADNOC also announced its intention to extend to 2040 its gas supply agreement with ADNOC LNG, in coordination with ADNOC LNG’s joint venture partners, Mitsui, BP and Total. And on the sidelines of the conference, ADNOC hosted at its HQ senior oil, gas and technology leaders at the inaugural ADNOC Artificial Intelligence Forum to discuss the rise of AI and how, collectively, the oil and gas industry can accelerate AI advancements to unlock new value from it oil and gas resources. It also updated over 800 ADIPEC attendees on its new integrated gas strategy and downstream growth plans, at a specially convened Gas, Refining and Petrochemicals Forum.

For the third year in a row, ADNOC also hosted its annual Business Partnership Forum at ADIPEC, during which it thanked the private sector for its support during the implementation phase of its new In-Country Value, ICV, programme, as it delivers on its 2030 growth strategy. At the Forum, ADNOC announced its 2018 ICV spend – the amount ADNOC and its contractors spend on local goods and services – which will be over AED18 billion, a significant year-on-year increase.

Speaking in a panel session at the Business Partnership Forum, Suhail bin Mohammed Faraj Faris Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Industry; Mubarak Rashed Khamis Al Mansoori, Governor of UAE Central Bank; Saif Mohamed Al Hajeri, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development; and Mohammed Thani Murshed Ghannam Al Rumaithi, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce discussed the economic impact of ADNOC’s ICV programme and how it could be applied to other industry sectors in the UAE.

Reflecting on the recently concluded ADIPEC, Dr. Al Jaber said the record number of corporate CEOs, government ministers, policy-makers and innovators – from the world’s most prominent oil and gas majors – who attended the event demonstrated Abu Dhabi’s status as a thought leadership convener and a driving force in the global energy conversation.

Dr. Al Jaber continued, "ADIPEC has, again, set the agenda for the global energy conversation and positioned Abu Dhabi to play a central role in the growth of the global oil and gas industry, as it seizes the opportunities created by Oil and Gas 4.0, to ensure a dynamic and thriving oil and gas industry for decades to come.

"We are at the beginning of a new era of opportunity. Historic shifts in global energy use are creating unprecedented demand for our products. To seize the opportunities of Oil and Gas 4.0, ADNOC will utilise all its resources, its partnerships and, in particular, the latest technologies to deliver on the ambitious strategic objectives of our 2030 growth strategy."